When we attempt to fight against a tendency towards jealousy that arises from earlier incarnations, then such jealousy puts on a mask. […] And a different effect occurs which is a consequence of fighting against jealousy. Characteristics which are fought against appear in different masks. And the jealousy against which we are fighting then frequently appears in life in the form that we feel greatly tempted to seek out the faults in other people and criticise them severely.
We can encounter people in life who always manage to find the faults and shadow sides of other people as if they had a certain clairvoyant power; and if we try to get to the bottom of this phenomenon the cause can be found in that jealousy has turned into severe criticism of others, and this appears to be a rather good characteristic to the people concerned. It is good, they say, to draw attention to the existence of these bad characteristics. But behind such censoriousness is nothing other than transformed, masked jealousy.
Source (German): Rudolf Steiner – GA 125 – Wege und Ziele des geistigen Menschen – Bremen, 26 November 1910 (page 194-195)
This English translation has been copied from the book: GA 125 – Paths and Goals of the Spiritual Human Being – Life questions in the light of spiritual science (page 165-166)
Previously posted on December 15, 2015
The great Rudolf Steiner Quotes Site 